Amnesty International

• Recent education policy changes and protests about sex education reveal increasing concern and polarization over how sex and gender identity are taught in public schools in Canada.
• They also expose the significant role now played by school boards in constructing the meaning of gender identity and gender expression.
• Changes in how words and terms are used can impact our ability to know about people’s lives and protect their rights.
• Significant shifts are taking place around how we define and understand sex and gender in education and public policy in Canada.

Sex, gender and law

• Yet sex, gender identity and gender expression are not defined in human rights legislation in Canada.
• They should be able to express their concerns and participate in open discussions about the meaning of words we share.

Changes in the definition of sex

• The Charter of the United Nations prohibits sex discrimination.
• The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights precludes discrimination based on sex.

Changes since 2018

Since 2018, the word sex is increasingly defined by the federal government as something that is “assigned at birth.” But there is no consistency across federal departments and agencies. Some continue to define sex as a biological question of male or female. Those that define sex as assigned at birth do not consistently explain how sex is assigned or by whom.

Conceptual shifts around word ‘woman’

• Similar conceptual shifts are taking place around the word woman.
• The word woman was formerly linked to sex and used to refer to female people.
• Now, government departments including the Department of Justice increasingly use the word woman to refer to all people who identify as women.

Defining gender identity

• When gender identity was added to federal human rights legislation, the Department of Justice defined gender identity as:
  “each person’s internal and individual experience of gender.
• A person’s gender identity may or may not align with the gender typically associated with their sex.”
  “A person’s internal and deeply felt sense of being a man or woman, both or neither.
• A person’s gender identity may or may not align with the gender typically associated with their sex.”

School boards define terms differently

• Researchers have identified that secular boards across Ontario define gender identity and gender expression differently from one another.
• Some school boards now define gender identity as something everyone has.

Data collection shifts away from sex towards gender

• A shift away from sex and towards gender (identity) has occurred in data collection practices at the federal government level.
• In 2018, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Department of Justice Canada recommended “ways to modernize how the Government of Canada handles information on sex and gender.” They recommended that “departments and agencies should collect or display gender information by default, unless sex information is specifically needed.” They used “sex” to refer to biological characteristics, and “gender” to refer to a social and personal identity.

Open discussions are overdue

As Canadian society shifts to accommodate the legal recognition of gender diversity, there will be tensions. Ultimately, courts will be tasked with deciding how some of those tensions are resolved, when sex, gender identity and gender expression are all protected in human rights laws. In the meantime, as a society, we need to openly and transparently grapple with some increasingly important questions:
First, how will foundational concepts such as sex, gender identity and gender expression be defined and given effect in education, law, public policy and beyond?
Second, how will tensions between experiences, interests and rights associated with sex and those associated with gender identity and/or gender expression be resolved?
Third, who is best placed to decide how these questions are answered in education, law, public policy and beyond?
Everyone who may be impacted by the answers to these questions should be included in the conversation.
Debra M Haak receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Bar Association Law for the Future Fund, and the Queen's University Faculty Association Fund for Scholarly Research.

• The conference "Protecting Human Rights in the Age of AI" aims to highlight and advance the critical efforts needed to incorporate human rights into AI governance mechanisms.
• This conference is one of the first official events at which these major international organizations come together to specifically address the intersection of AI governance and human rights.
• However, a large part of the discussions about AI governance and human rights have evolved separately.
• "Mila is proud to bring together renowned experts from international organizations, civil society, industry and academia to discuss issues related to human rights and AI.

• The Chinese-Australian academic and writer, Yang Hengjun, has been detained in China for five years on suspicion of spying for Australia.
• A secret trial was held in 2021 with no family, friends or Australian consular officials permitted in the courtroom.
• Today, his fate has finally been made clear: Yang received a suspended death sentence which can be commuted to life in prison after two years of good behaviour.

Yang’s background

• Yang was born in China and previously worked in the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of State Security.
• He later moved to Australia, where he became a citizen in 2002, and then to the US where had been a visiting scholar at Columbia University from 2017.
• Yang had been detained in China previously in 2011, but was quickly released ahead of a visit to China by then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

How frequently is the death penalty used in China?

• China has a notorious record of imposing the death penalty for a number of different offences.
• While there has been a downward trend in the number of countries that retain the death penalty and actually carry out executions, reliable data on China is impossible to attain.
• As such, Amnesty no longer includes any Chinese figures in its annual Global Death Penalty reports.

Does Yang have any rights left under international law?

• Yang can still appeal his sentence through the Chinese legal system, which effectively provides him with certain levels of protection until his appeals have been exhausted.
• Diplomatically, though, this would be a basis for Australia to continue to advocate for his release on humanitarian grounds.

Is there anything Australia can do for Yang now?

• This is significant as convictions for a capital offence in China are typically followed quickly by an execution.
• Yang’s Australian citizenship will have no doubt have been taken into account in this instance.
• Any formal efforts by Australia to provide Yang with diplomatic protection under international law are constrained while his legal case is still playing out.

Has China treated Yang with procedural fairness?

• Australia had very few options to ensure Yang was being afforded these rights in China.
• China has respected some of the minimum entitlements under this agreement, which has enabled consular staff to meet with Yang and monitor his wellbeing, though China restricted access during the peak periods of the COVID-19 lockdown.
• And as Amnesty International notes, China has not put forth any evidence to support its assertion that Yang was, indeed, a spy.

Donald Rothwell receives funding from Australian Research Council

• In their letter, the leaders noted with concern "….the rushed legal process, and lack of consistency with regard to how Bangladesh's laws are applied.
• "I call on the Prime Minister to stop this senseless campaign against Professor Muhammad Yunus now."
• "A social activist and Nobel laureate," Irene Khan warned, "who brought honor and pride to the country is being persecuted on frivolous grounds."
• Sam Daley-Harris, the founder of Civic Courage, urged concerned citizens to respond to this call to action .